The invention relates to a moving walkway comprising a framework, which is provided for receiving a plurality of pallets, wherein the pallets comprise guide rollers and can be moved in the direction of conveyance by a drive mechanism.
German patent document DE-U 20 100 833 discloses an escalator or a moving walkway having a step or pallet band, which is driven by drive elements, which extend on both sides of the band or centrally beneath the band, and which rotate between respectively one reversing wheel and one drive wheel, wherein the steps or pallets are respectively driven at drive points of each drive element. Herein, the drive element is a toothed belt, which comprises blocks, wherein one block is respectively connected to one step or pallet at the drive point.
German patent document DE-A 3 732 226 describes a double sided toothed belt for driving an escalator which comprises two pulleys which are driven by a motor and which comprise a plurality of juxtaposed profiled teeth, a series of interconnected links, which are each provided with a plurality of juxtaposed teeth and are each connected with one of the steps, and a flexible toothed tension belt having a first and a second side, which each carries a plurality of juxtaposed teeth, of which the teeth of the first side comb via an arc with the teeth of the pulleys and the teeth on the second side comb linearly with the teeth of the links.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,365,051 describes a moving walkway, which works without reversing disks in the head zones thereof. On the head side, belt elements that can be driven are provided, which engage in correspondingly toothed areas of the pallets and form the drive means for the moving walkway, respectively the pallet band thereof. The individual pallets are interconnected via rollers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,891 discloses a pallet body for moving walkways, which is composed of a tread plate having toothed front and rear edges, connecting elements for receiving and guiding connection and/or drive organs as well as tread plate supporting elements for receiving and guiding preceding or following pallet bodies, which are equipped with corresponding components, wherein the connecting elements, which are integrally formed with the tread plate, and the tread plate supporting elements are placed beneath the same one and project with predetermined distance over the front and rear edges of the tread plate. A chain, in particular a plate link chain is used as the drive mechanism. For minimizing gaps between adjacent pallets the teeth are interlocking.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,278 describes a passenger transport installation comprising a plurality of adjacent pallets, which are connected to each other by a pallet chain and are driven by the same one. The pallets are joined to each other with a hinge in the contact areas thereof by means of connecting elements, wherein several rollers are provided in the area of each pallet side.
Finally, European Patent document EP-A 13792 discloses a connection means for pallets of a moving walkway, wherein the pallets can be reversed around a vertical axis outside the transport area, such that two parallel transport areas are formed. Outside the transport areas, the pallets are automatically separated from the connection means, so that the pallets can be reversed without any problems. Outside the transport areas, i.e. beneath the comb plates, the individual pallets are automatically coupled again, such that the known continuous pallet band is again formed in the transport area.